I think the commentarry is very amusing. And not to take sides, but I have to agree with your fans.
This story is fanfiction...It doesn't have to hold up to the scrutiny that the copywrited stuff does. (If it did, many of the best stories woldn't even exist!)
And as to KaliedescopeCat's comment: its (without ') means possession, it's (with ') means it is. (a way to remember is itself is possession and has no ')
All in all, though, a great story!
I myself am mot too fond of Kirk or Spock (I don't hate them, I was just raised in the TNG era). I therefore have little knowledge about their personalities, I cannot tell atypical qualities as well as I could with Picard or Janeway's crews. But I agree that it is (it's) your story... You wrote the plot, you write the rules. The overall stroy was rather interesting...
Keep up the good work. ;)
Oh, and Jenny and followers, get a life, if you don't like the story, don't read it. No one's putting a gun to your head an forcing you to read her stories. If you don't like the way Quill's OC turned out, then just don't bother reading about him.

Just finished reading your story Intrepid Vulcans and, as usual, I then read the reviews. I agree that a little bit of grammer needs work, but we are all guilty of that!
As for 'Jenny', I get the impression that she is the immature one. Ok, you have written a story that she disagree's with, fair enough, but at the end of the day its a FICTION website, and I'm gonna guess we all understand what the word FICTION really means?
In her review dated 14/11/03 ( Yes, I'm English ) Jenny accuses you of worshiping Captain Soma, clearly she has never written a story that has a popular charachter of her own!
Keep upi the good work and lets have more Soma soon!
Chris 1978

I don't care what those others say, I loved your story Gateway, and this one is a pretty good one, can't wait to see Enemy of the state. It was great seeing that Trip and T'Pol are Soma's parents. :) Thank you for writing a piece like that. I enjoyed it immensely.
TT

Do you honestly have any idea how stupid you sound when you claim that we "worship" Kirk and Spock? And that because we don't like your story, it automatically means that we read "fluff" fiction?

For your information, Kirk and Spock had plenty of flaws in the Original show/movies. And as far as "worship", you seem to have a good deal of it for your "dear" Captain Soma - which is why he IS a Gary Stu.

And finally, you didn't make Kirk or Spock human. That was done long before you started to publish such tripe. they are, after all, the reason Star Trek exists. That includes Enterprise.

*Rolls eyes.* As easily as you forget, however, I wouldn't be surprised if you were Rick Berman himself.

the story was ok but the argument is hilarious! take a chill pill guys it's fanfic rules don't apply, if ya want rules to apply go read ep transcripts! lol, keep up the good fight, quills and jenny

No jenny..it just means there are more Kirk/Spock worshipping people like yourself in the world that get their panties in a bunch when their beloved character is portrayed as flawed...imperfect and HUMAN. So go back to reading your fluff fiction dear...that kind of read will always satisfy you because you won't ever have to worry about your fav character ever having a 'bad hair day'.
ciao

YAwn. You far from "ripped me a new one." All you did is prove that you're an immature writer, can't handle valid criticism, and can't wrap your mind around the very real fact that you have a Gary Stu in "Captain" Soma.

And I didn't say a damn thing about continuinty violations. What I did say is that you aren't respecting Kirk and Spock in this story. Because you haven't. You can argue all day that you have, but clearly I'm not the only one that believes so.

I enjoyed the story very much. I think that you may have hit the nail on the head in regard to Kirk's early career. It is a sad fact that most of the best naval officers have spotty records. The ones with perfect records inevitably lose the battle.

I'm not even going to touch that debate. I just wanted to point out a few things, grammar-wise, that I think you might want to watch out for.

It's vs. Its: you use It's all the time, even when you shouldn't. It's, with an apostrophe, means it has, indicating possession. Its, without an apostrophe, means it is, indicating the quality of something.

Your and you're: same deal. Your is a possessive, You're is You are, indicating quality.

Just wanted to point that out, since you did it a lot in Gateway, too. Anyway, I thought it was an interesting story. Hope to see more from you.

To Jenny...

I'm hostile in replies too hostile replies.
You have an opinion...no problem, but play nice and give me a well thought out criticism...not
this horse hockey bashing based on circular logic.
You do that and I'll rip you a new one everytime.

Also I would say it is you who are being
immature my dear...not to mention myopic.
First...this is a SOMA story...not a Kirk
story and not a Spock story. The story
revolves around the subject in question.This is a basic tenant of writing a story. If I'm writing about Frederick Douglas, I'm not going to short shrift him to give star billing to Abe Lincoln.

In this story Kirk and Spock were supporting characters. This obviously distresses you greatly
because you appear to be one of the many fanfic readers who insists that canon characters can do no wrong and must always be prominately displayed
with proper copyright and trademark stamped below.
Tell me...are you a Paramount stooge?

In addition...I didn't compare myself to B&B..someone else compared me to them in as much that we share getting bashed by myopic fans. Granted...B&B have short commings in both writing and continuity. I cannot honestly say it is completely their fault as I am not privy to the day to day goings on. What I do know is that my story is solid in continuity. I addresed facets that have not been examined in time periods that were completely untouched. There is no way you can logically say..through citing canon or continuity... that my character could not have existed and done exactly what I wrote. I adhered to the continuity and created a story without changing anything already written into canon. You may not like what I wrote but don't tell me it smacks of continuity violations.

Finally...as for your jab at bad writing in novels using original characters...I must point out the Excalibur series. A popular and much acclaimed series that uses canon characters in supporting roles...if at all. So I guess those are bad and your fellow fan fic readers who read them have no taste?

Q

Wow, a bit hostile in your replies, aren't you? Frankly, you come off awfully immature.

It's interesting that you are comparing yourself to B&B. They've been criticized for not respecting the original show, and the history of Trek, and honestly, neither do you.

You forgot something very important while you were writing this. The Trek characters are - and shall always be- more important than your own. In this one, Soma comes across as more important. And he isn't. That's one of the reasons everyone has reacted so strongly towards this fic.

Even in the Trek novels, the worlds center around Kirk, Spock, Picard, Riker, Sisko, Kira, etc. Any novel that has the universe center around an original character is a bad one with bad writing. And frankly, so is this fic.

I was interested in seeing a sequel to Gateway, but this one left me. . . I don't know. It doesn't sit right.

Firstly, I read your comments on HOT and I want to point out that I know very well that Kirk is human, and I don't worship him, nor do I expect everyone to. But, the Kirk I have known and portrayed would NEVER use a racial slur in the fashion you demonstrated. That's not something you can pass off due to age. It's about character and you changed his to suit your fic.

As for Spock, I'm not even convinced that Spock would have respected Soma, let alone worshiped him in the same fashion that he does here. After all, they may have had the hyridity in common, but I think Spock would have seen Soma as abandoning the path of Surak, which would have mattered more to Spock.

I've read Gateway, so I know that Soma has flaws, but honestly, it's difficult to see that here, where you have essentially molded the characterizations of two very beloved characters to fit the story.

Sorry folks but some of you fan fic readers need..to quote Shatner.."get a life". Kirk & Spock...wonderful characters but they are not the end all be all of trek and if you think they are what are you reading my stuff for?

My character preceeds them in the continuity timeline. It is LOGICAL that a half vulcan/human like Spock would look to another half vulcan/human like Soma. A little hero worship
is natural and quite frankly if I had reversed it and Spock preceeded Soma in continuity then you would have no problem with Soma looking up to Spock. Drop the Double standard.

As for Kirk...I humanized him. Soma transfered him when he was Lt. Kirk...not Captain Kirk. Just as Picard needed to get stabbed by a Nausican to wake up and become a great captain, so to might Kirk need a transfer to the Faragut where he ended up distinguishing himself and became a great leader.

I used my Soma character to weave a story that crosses over generationally and addressed a few points about Kirk, Spock, The Intrepid and my own character that I was interested in devlving into. The only difference between me doing it and a Trek novelist or episode writer is that mine isn't licensed and accepted into the official canon.For that matter..Trek novelists and comic book story writers are not either.
Only episodes are cannon.

In the end...you need to lighten up and allow your beloved characters to have skeletons..foibles and above all growth. As a recent critic pointed out...I now know how Berman & Braga feel when the hard core fans can't handle a little humanizing of characters they froze in time as perfect and unable to show themselves
flaws and all. The story I wrote..you can like it or hate it...but it was a growth in character and should always be welcome or you invite stagnation.
Q

Um, look, I really really REALLY liked Gateway.
But this story is completely unlikeable.
You turned a perfectly good OC into a Mary Sue, or whatever the male form is called.
Kirk and Spock are two of the most widely respected characters in Trek. Spock worships Soma, and Soma is wiser than Kirk.
That really isn't likely.

oh, right. Kirk and Spock - legends in the Star Trek world - just happened to worship/adore/learn from your character?

Bah, heard of Gary Stu much?